Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Navaho Indians attempt to claim ownership of the Moon, delay Vulcan launch Glenn Reynolds is pretty sure that someone is looking for a payday. I wonder if the Navajo are going to try to go to court to get their way. In any case, this blatant claim of ownership of the moon is a violation of the Outer Space Treaty.
Former Rep Eddie Bernice Johnson just passed. She was a well know player in space policy, albeit not always to the benifit of the cause of space exploration, as I note here. In any case, RIP.
Now, it’s America’s turn to land on the moon. Again.
2024 will usher in America’s turn to once again land on the moon.
First, the Astrobotic Peregrine lander will launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan-Centure rocket, currently scheduled for Jan. 8. The Peregrine will take a leisurely, fuel-saving voyage to the moon before attempting to land on Feb. 23.
Next, the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander will launch sometime in mid-February on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 and will take a quicker path to the moon. The launch date will set up a lunar landing attempt sometime in late February, within days of the Peregrine landing attempt.
Saturday, December 30, 2023
Maine Casts Its Ballot for Trump: The Democratic secretary of state plays into the former President’s hands by blocking his candidacy.
Friday, December 29, 2023
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Space Diplomacy: Which Lucky Nation Will Join NASA in Return To Walk the Moon
At a recent meeting of the National Space Council, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that one non-American astronaut will walk on the moon by 2030. She thus confirmed what many suspected would be the case ever since the NASA Artemis program began.
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
Monday, December 25, 2023
A Charlie Brown Christmas: Merry Christmas Charlie Brown
For all who celebrate, have a Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Biden’s unnecessary feud against Musk imperils America’s space effort
Two facts have become apparent about the relationship between Elon Musk and the Biden administration.
First, NASA and the military love how SpaceX has lowered the cost and raised the reliability of launching things into space. NASA is depending on SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System to land astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972.
Second, by all accounts, the Biden administration appears to have it in for the richest man in the world. Musk doesn’t think much of the current president and has publicly said that he would vote against him. The feud has the potential to derail the Artemis return to the moon program.
Elon Musk says at SpaceX ‘we never think about the quarter’—and he’s in no rush to spin off Starlink given the ‘tremendous distraction’ of being public like Tesla
Saturday, December 23, 2023
Friday, December 22, 2023
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Monday, December 18, 2023
Sunday, December 17, 2023
NASA and China are competing for space allies in the Middle East
Recently, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson visited the United Arab Emirates to discuss the possibility of including Emirati astronauts on future Artemis expeditions to the moon. In the meantime, China has signed with Egypt in a series of space cooperation agreements, including participation in Beijing’s proposed International Lunar Research Station.
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Trump should pick Haley as VP, McCarthy says
In a way that makes a lot of sense, with Trump coopting his chief rival and combining the two factions of the Republican party, Haley would serve in the second Trump term the same role that Pence did in the first, as the sober, reassuring figure compared to the turbulent Bad Orange Man. Such a ticket would blow Biden out of office like a hurricane.
Friday, December 15, 2023
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Today, on Tuesday, December 12, at 10 pm easter, 7 pm pacific, I will be on the Space Show podcast with Dr. David Livingston to discuss the year that was and the year ahead in space. Listen live on the Space Show website.
Monday, December 11, 2023
From the Colossus of Rhodes to the Statue of Zeus: AI reimagines how ancient Seven Wonders of the World that were destroyed by war and natural disasters thousands of years ago would look like today
Sunday, December 10, 2023
Henry Kissinger and the birth of space diplomacy
Kissinger also had a role in creating space exploration as a tool of diplomacy. The strategy fit neatly into the policy of détente that he and President Richard Nixon devised to manage the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
One in five young Americans think the Holocaust is a myth
I remember raging about Holocaust deniers in the late 70s to my Jewish girlfriend. Surprisingly, she was nonchallant about it, quipping, "Then where did half my European relatives get to?" I miss her. She died of cancer in Canada about nine years ago.
John Whitmire elected Houston mayor, defeating congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
Whitmire was not my first choice, but he is light years better than that evil woman. Houston dodged a huge missile.
Saturday, December 09, 2023
Friday, December 08, 2023
Don’t trash the International Space Station
NASA and its international partners intend to deorbit the International Space Station sometime around 2030. The ISS, the greatest engineering achievement in human history, would become a magnificent fireball streaking across the skies over the North Pacific. Much of it would burn up in the upper atmosphere, and the remains would splash into the sea.
We believe the deorbit plan is depressing, wasteful, environmentally undesirable, and most importantly, dishonoring of all those who built this magnificent structure, which is a testament to human ingenuity and international cooperation.
John Kerry wants to abolish coal by government fiat
Recently, John Kerry , a former Democratic senator, former secretary of state, failed presidential candidate, and current climate envoy for the Biden administration, rode his private jet to the United Nations COP28 conference in Dubai and strongly suggested that no new coal-fired power plants should be built anywhere in the world. Moreover, he said, existing coal plants should be decommissioned as fast as possible.
Thursday, December 07, 2023
In last night's debate, Ron DeSantis mentioned President Calvin Coolidge as his inspiration, certainly an outside the box choice. For further understanding, by all means read Coolidge by Amity Shales. #ad
Wednesday, December 06, 2023
Tuesday, December 05, 2023
Why is America Going Back to the Moon #ad
The moon has held a fascination with Americans ever since President John F. Kennedy threw down the gauntlet and challenged the Soviet Union to a race to land a man on Earth’s neatest neighbor and return him safely to the Earth. 60 years later, a different president of the United States, Donald Trump, proposed that Americans and astronauts from American allies return to the moon. Trump’s Artemis project, unlike previous attempts to return to the moon, looks like it actually may succeed.
Why does American want to return to the moon? Is it science? Is it riches? Is it glory? Or, perhaps, it is a combination of the three. Mark R. Whittington, author of Why is it so Hard to Go Back to the Moon and Children of Apollo, seeks to answer that question in Why is America Going Back to the Moon.
Monday, December 04, 2023
Sunday, December 03, 2023
When astronauts become farmers: Harvesting food on the moon and Mars
With renewed interest in sending people back to the moon and on to Mars, thanks to NASA’s Artemis missions, thoughts have naturally turned to how to feed astronauts traveling to those deep space destinations. Simply shipping food to future lunar bases and Mars colonies would be impractically expensive.
Astronauts will, on top of everything else, have to become farmers.
The Gabriella Doria Stories #ad
Brought across to undeath in the 15th Century, the Contessa Gabriella Doria has walked the night, feeding on the blood of the living. However, on occasion, she had faced foes far more formidable and certainly more evil than a vampire.
Saturday, December 02, 2023
The Man from Mars: The Asteroid Mining Caper #ad
Colin Fraser was the first man to walk on Mars as commander of the Ares. But little did he know that his greatest adventure would take place after he returned to Earth from the Red Planet. With further voyages of interplanetary exploration curtailed due to budget cuts, Fraser joined a private company that proposed to capture an asteroid and mine it for its almost limitless wealth. The only catch was that he would have to commit the first act of space piracy in history by stealing his old ship and using it to divert the asteroid named Daedalus.
Stealing the ship, diverting the asteroid, and avoiding federal prison or destruction will be the least of Fraser’s worries, however.
Friday, December 01, 2023
Angola Signs NASA Artemis Accord
In living memory Angola was a battlefield of the Cold War with American backed rebels fighting a Cuban occupation army. Now Angola is part of the Artemis Alliance. Truly it is a turning world.
A Brother on the Moon #Ad
On a December day in 1967, a pilot whose jet fighter is in the process of cracking up ejects a moment sooner and therefore lives when he otherwise might have died. A life that would have ended on the tarmac at Edwards Air Force Base continues on. Six years later, Major Robert Lawrence, United States Air Force, becomes the first black American to walk on the Moon.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
The Last Moonwalker and Other Stories #ad
The Last Moonwalker – In the near future, as human explorers prepare to take the first voyage to the Moon in decades, Charles Gerald, the last Apollo Moonwalker, lends his advice to the crew of the expedition as he wrestles with his own legacy.
The First Woman on the Moon – Set in the same universe as Children of Apollo, Wendy Pendleton, who will fly on the mission of Apollo 23, remembers the cost of becoming the first woman on the Moon.
Two Old Men – Two retired politicians, in the same universe as Children of Apollo, face a deadly disease a treatment for which was developed in space.
Dark Sanction – As World War II rages, Gabriella, Venetian aristocrat, spy for British Intelligence, vampire is menaced by a Nazi vampire hunter with occult powers.
Hurtgen Moon – An American rifle squad battles a werewolf during one of World War II’s bloodiest battles.
Witnessing Apollo – The flight of Apollo 11 helps an alien visitor decide the fate of the Earth.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
The Moon, Mars, and Beyond #ad
The Last Moonwalker – In the near future, as human explorers prepare to take the first voyage to the Moon in decades, Charles Gerald, the last Apollo Moonwalker, lends his advice to the crew of the expedition as he wrestles with his own legacy.
The Man from Mars: The Asteroid Mining Caper - Colin Fraser was the first man to walk on Mars as commander of the Ares. But little did he know that his greatest adventure would take place after he returned to Earth from the Red Planet. With further voyages of interplanetary exploration curtailed due to budget cuts, Fraser joined a private company that proposed to capture an asteroid and mine it for its almost limitless wealth. The only catch was that he would have to commit the first act of space piracy in history by stealing his old ship and using it to divert the asteroid named Daedalus.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Why is America Going Back to the Moon #ad
The moon has held a fascination with Americans ever since President John F. Kennedy threw down the gauntlet and challenged the Soviet Union to a race to land a man on Earth’s neatest neighbor and return him safely to the Earth. 60 years later, a different president of the United States, Donald Trump, proposed that Americans and astronauts from American allies return to the moon. Trump’s Artemis project, unlike previous attempts to return to the moon, looks like it actually may succeed.
Why does American want to return to the moon? Is it science? Is it riches? Is it glory? Or, perhaps, it is a combination of the three. Mark R. Whittington, author of Why is it so Hard to Go Back to the Moon and Children of Apollo, seeks to answer that question in Why is America Going Back to the Moon.
Monday, November 27, 2023
Why is it So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?
Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, departed from the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. The last words he spoke, officially, were, “And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17." Decades later, despite the efforts of two American presidents, human beings have not returned to the moon. Why Earth’s nearest neighbor remains untouched by human footsteps after so long remains one of the vexing questions of modern times. Mark R. Whittington, the author of the Children of Apollo trilogy and The Last Moonwalker and Other Stories, attempts to answer this question in his new long essay Why is it so Hard to Go Back to the Moon? The answer involves failures of leadership of multiple American presidents as well as political intrigue and backstabbing that shortened the Apollo program and left two return to the Moon programs stillborn. More important, Whittington seeks to set out a political blue print, learning from mistakes of the past, for setting course back to the Moon. Why is it so Hard to Go Back to the Moon is not a typical future in space book. The author does not delve into technical designs for lunar voyages. Instead he looks at the much harder than rocket science art of politics in relation to returning to the Moon. Why is it so Hard to Go Back to the Moon? is a must read for anyone interested in influencing future space policy or who are just interested in learning about the intersection between space exploration and politics.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
SpaceX’s Starship could be a few tests away from its ultimate goal
The recent second test flight of the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy rocket was a perfect example of Elon Musk’s philosophy of technology development. Test the launch vehicle. Blow it up. Note what went wrong. Fix what went wrong. Repeat until you get something that flies as reliably as an airliner.
From a comment on Facebook:
I can't believe The Hill was permitted to publish this story, in which Elon Musk is not demonized a single time and the SpaceX model of "try-fail-learn-try again" was actually sort of praised. What on Earth is going on in D.C. ????
The Gabriella Doria Stories #Ad
Brought across to undeath in the 15th Century, the Contessa Gabriella Doria has walked the night, feeding on the blood of the living. However, on occasion, she had faced foes far more formidable and certainly more evil than a vampire.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
A Brother on the Moon #ad
On a December day in 1967, a pilot whose jet fighter is in the process of cracking up ejects a moment sooner and therefore lives when he otherwise might have died. A life that would have ended on the tarmac at Edwards Air Force Base continues on. Six years later, Major Robert Lawrence, United States Air Force, becomes the first black American to walk on the Moon.
Friday, November 24, 2023
The Last Moonwalker and Other Stories #ad
The Last Moonwalker – In the near future, as human explorers prepare to take the first voyage to the Moon in decades, Charles Gerald, the last Apollo Moonwalker, lends his advice to the crew of the expedition as he wrestles with his own legacy.
The First Woman on the Moon – Set in the same universe as Children of Apollo, Wendy Pendleton, who will fly on the mission of Apollo 23, remembers the cost of becoming the first woman on the Moon.
Two Old Men – Two retired politicians, in the same universe as Children of Apollo, face a deadly disease a treatment for which was developed in space.
Dark Sanction – As World War II rages, Gabriella, Venetian aristocrat, spy for British Intelligence, vampire is menaced by a Nazi vampire hunter with occult powers.
Hurtgen Moon – An American rifle squad battles a werewolf during one of World War II’s bloodiest battles.
Witnessing Apollo – The flight of Apollo 11 helps an alien visitor decide the fate of the Earth.
Thursday, November 23, 2023
The Man from Mars: The Asteroid Mining Caper #Ad
Colin Fraser was the first man to walk on Mars as commander of the Ares. But little did he know that his greatest adventure would take place after he returned to Earth from the Red Planet. With further voyages of interplanetary exploration curtailed due to budget cuts, Fraser joined a private company that proposed to capture an asteroid and mine it for its almost limitless wealth. The only catch was that he would have to commit the first act of space piracy in history by stealing his old ship and using it to divert the asteroid named Daedalus.
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
The Moon, Mars, and Beyond: Two Tales from the Coming Space Age #Ad
The Last Moonwalker – In the near future, as human explorers prepare to take the first voyage to the Moon in decades, Charles Gerald, the last Apollo Moonwalker, lends his advice to the crew of the expedition as he wrestles with his own legacy.
The Man from Mars: The Asteroid Mining Caper - Colin Fraser was the first man to walk on Mars as commander of the Ares. But little did he know that his greatest adventure would take place after he returned to Earth from the Red Planet. With further voyages of interplanetary exploration curtailed due to budget cuts, Fraser joined a private company that proposed to capture an asteroid and mine it for its almost limitless wealth. The only catch was that he would have to commit the first act of space piracy in history by stealing his old ship and using it to divert the asteroid named Daedalus. Stealing the ship, diverting the asteroid, and avoiding federal prison or destruction will be the least of Fraser’s worries, however.
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